often angry. always gen x.

skating wildly and carrying a big stick

Excellent insight in the latest post over at 538 http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/sarah-palin-is-not-hockey-mom.html on Palin as the hockey player rather than the mom– fighting tough, fighting dirty, and getting away with it, and how the Democrats need to find a way to respond effectively when the rules of fair play are out the window. We’re dealing with people who can look straight into the camera, or look you straight in the eye, and lie about their record and others’. Not only did Sarah Palin lie about having been against the Bridge to Nowhere in her introductory speech, she did it at the convention; repeated it even as the disproved fact had already been making the rounds of the media. McCain and Palin are really birds of a feather in their lack of ethics– made all the more laughable/infuriating by the reform ticket they’re crowing about.

So how do the Dems come back, and hit hard? So far Obama & Biden seem to be making their case masterfully; Jed Report has a couple of wonderful clips of both on recent campaign stops in PA. For all of the claims that Obama is stiff and “elitist,” he comes across as very folksy and relaxed, in my opinion, on the campaign trail. Not to mention with a damned impressive handle on the issues. But for the rest of us trying figure out how to skewer the Unbearable Lightness of Republican Bullsh-t, what’s the answer? I want effective ways to counter the nonsense about Obama’s elitism, the idea that a senator’s experience doesn’t matter, and especially the absurd notion that Obama hasn’t sponsored and passed meaningful legislation during his years as senator. For start, a couple links to his legislative record, here: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/02/dear-chris-matt.html and more complete, here: http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/obamas-senate-accomplishments/#more-6370

Excerpted from John Ridley at HuffPo (I believe more installments have since been posted there), this is a great highlight of the double standards we’re suffering through:

If you’re a minority and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “token hire.” If you’re a conservative and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “game changer.”

If you live in an Urban area and you get a girl pregnant you’re a “baby daddy.” If you’re the same in Alaska you’re a “teen father.” (Actually, according to your own MySpace page you’re an F’n redneck that don’t want any kids, but that’s too long a phrase for the evil liberal media to take out of context and flog morning noon and night).

If you grow up in Hawaii you’re “exotic.” Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you’re the quintessential “American story.”

Similarly, if you name you kid Barack you’re “unpatriotic.” Name your kid Track, you’re “colorful.”

If you’re a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you’re “reckless.” A Republican who doesn’t fully vet is a “maverick.”

If you say that for the “first time in my adult lifetime I’m really proud of my country” it makes you “unfit” to be First Lady. If you are a registered member of a fringe political group that advocates secession that makes you “First Dude.”

A DUI from twenty years ago is “old news.” A speech given without proper citation from twenty years ago is “relevant information.”

And, finally, if you’re a man and you decide to run for office despite your wife’s recurrence of cancer you’re a “questionable spouse.” If you’re a woman and you decide to run for office despite having five kids including a newborn… Well, we don’t know what that is ’cause THAT’S NOT A FAIR QUESTION TO ASK.